File 1: Ghost of a Chance
by Elda Ahern
Summary: Love is a complicated thing with many conflicting forms, each as powerful as the next. So powerful, and yet, so delicate as it easily can turn to hate. Throw a haunting in the mix and SPR's in for one dangerously eventful week.
1. Chapter 1

File 1: Ghost of a Chance part 1

Naru couldn't help himself, he had been trying holding himself back for far too long and that had only made it worse. But not this time. This time he didn't have to hold back.

He looked at the petite burnet looking up at him. Her short hair formed a halo around her small head and her auburn eyes sparkled. Her cheeks grew redder and redder with each second, and Naru's desire and attraction towards her grew as a result. He no longer wanted to look at her; he did that every day in the office and on cases. He wanted to let another sense have a chance to know her like his eyes did.

He took her hand and raised it up to his mouth. The chocolate featured girl squeaked in embarrassment. This made Naru smirk. He liked how he caused that reaction so he did it again, this time watching her carefully with his eyes, not wanting to miss a second. With every kiss she grew redder and more adorable.

Even now Naru loved teasing her, so he inched closer and closer to her kissing up her arm making his way to her neck, catching a glimpse of her face every moment he got. He had all too soon reached the bottom of her neck and traced it with kisses then up to just under her ear.

He could feel her skin and hear her breath. Such proximity had kicked all of he senses into overdrive, something he had not calculated, but, somehow, welcomed.

"Nar-" the girl crocked from lack of speaking. She tried again "Naru?"

"Mmhmm?" he answered, heart racing from the mention of his name, even if it was a nickname she gave him inspired by his arrogant demeanor.

"Are you really Naru?"

That innocent question stung and he withdrew from kissing her neck and looked at her face he saw pink embarrassment but misunderstood the hope in her eyes.

"Yes, it's really me. You should have learned by now how to tell me apart from Gene, idiot." It hurt him even as he said it. He cursed at himself for not knowing better. Even now, it was Gene she wanted.

"I have always been able to tell you apart." She looked away, but not before Naru saw the hurt in her eyes. "I always knew the difference. I just didn't know who he was. I thought it was just a dream. I wanted to see you smiling and so I dreamed it. That's what I thought. But the one I love was never the one in the dream. The one I love you, Naru. Not Gene. The one who is always reading. The one who is always thinking about something. The one who is always yelling at me to get tea and then telling me I took too long or calling me an idiot for not understanding a complex explanation. The one who is always saving me when I get myself into trouble because I'm a danger magnet and occasionally praises me for doing a good job. That's the one I love." Tears welled up in her eyes.

Naru looked at her, calculating.

The tears fell.

"Naru, the one I love is you."

He kissed her, this time on the lips. "I know. I'm sorry I hurt you by saying you didn't. I love you, too."

He had dreams like this many times before and the conversation always changed but this Mai seemed different somehow, more…real. Naru's mind was so overactive that it often conjured up very realistic dreams, but this one was different somehow. And for the first time ever he woke up from this dream believing what the girl had said.

But, in the end, it was all a dream. No matter how real it seemed, in the end, it was just a dream.

…

Mai, walked into base pink tinted on her face willing it to disappear. However, when she saw her boss, it only grew to a deeper red.

"Mai?" he asked, looking at her funny.

"Yes?" she squeaked.

"Did you have a dream last night?"

"No." she said a bit too fast. How could she tell her boss she dreamed of him kissing her all night long saying he loved her? No way. That's way too embarrassing. It'd never happen. Not if she had anything to say about it.

Lin was typing away at the computer, probably catching the files up about the case they were on. They had to keep very detailed files on their cases, and Lin (a.k.a. the man who knows everything but never says anything about it) was just the man for the job.

Yasuhara, Bou-san, and Ayako entered the base, being as loud as ever, Bou-san and Ayako in a fight and Yasu encouraging it but his target changed when saw Mai was up as well.

"Mai! Aww, look at you. You look just like you did in the dream I had last night." He chirped. "You're so cute when you blush." He was always teasing her or making strange remarks with Bou-san, so his jokes came as no surprise, although, they still could get annoying.

"Yasu…"

"Yasuhara, I need you to find more information about this house's history. Take Takigawa with you. Matsuzaki go see if Hara-san is awake yet. Mai, tea," Naru set his team into action. Though the catalyst for the orders might have been anything, from his dislike for noise or annoyance at Yasu's comments or simply that the tasks needed to be done

The four voiced their complaints, but nonetheless left to do what they were told.

Lin's chuckle earned himself a glare from Naru, however, over the many years of acting as Naru's guardian, he had grown accustomed to the glare and was no longer affected. He even learned how to interpret each glare. They all seem the same until it finally smacks you in the face; to Lin, Naru was an open book that he's read more times than he'd care to count.

At that point John walked in wondering what he had missed as he had passed his four complaining teammates in the hall. Naru never minded him being in the base because John was a quiet fellow and tended not to draw too much attention to himself, unlike everyone else on the team. John was a young priest, and so it made sense that was also a peace maker by nature.

"Brown-san, are you prepared to do an exorcism?"

"Ai, Naru, any time," John uttered through his thick Australian accent.

"Are we getting rid of the ghost tonight, Noll?" Lin questioned.

"Ghosts." Naru corrected.

**Well, that's the first chapter, wonder what's going to happen in the next chapter. Help me out by leaving a review. Even if it's just "Hey, I liked it" or a "This is how I think you can improve…" that would be a big help. Thanks for getting this far. Much Love. –Elda Ahern**


	2. Chapter 2

File 1: Ghost of a Chance part 2

-A few days earlier-

"Mai." Naru called from his office.

She quickly got up and walked to Naru's office, grateful that there's something for her to do besides just sit at the counter waiting for some poor soul to walk through the door and beg for Naru's help only to get turned down just because the case wasn't interesting enough so she would have to convince him, either by denying him tea or being super annoying till he accepted. Office life could be so dull.

"Yes?" she answered.

He was so engrossed with the file he was looking at that he hadn't noticed her come in even after he himself called her. But rather than reading, he was thinking.

"Naru?" she asked again walking up to his desk.

He looked up and for a second was surprised she was there. "Tea," he said, remembering himself.

"Would a 'please' kill you?"

"Not a risk I'm willing to take."

With an angry grunt Mai walked out of the room and into the kitchen, drawing the attention of a certain silent typing addict.

He went in to check up with his charge. Seeing as he was having a staring contest with an item bearing 'i's rather than 'eyes', Lin interrupted, "You really should be nicer to her; she spends so much of her time here when she could be out with her friends like normal teenagers."

Naru just glared at him. Content that his message hit home, Lin walked back to his computer and continued typing.

In the kitchen, Mai was deciding what kind of tea she should give Naru. If she gave the same one too many times or brewed the wrong one at the wrong time, she felt like she had failed one of her only jobs. It's not like he ever noticed, but she thought she should put in the effort.

Having chosen one to her satisfaction, she started the tea making process. It didn't take long.

After pouring the liquid into a cup, she picked it up and began walking it to its new owner. As she walked, she noticed that a piece of her skirt had gotten caught on one of the drawers. She tried pulling it out but nothing changed other than a small tear had appeared in the pink fabric. She tried pulling the drawer out, but the edge of her skirt was wedged in the track making it impossible do to the impeccable handy work of the person who put the stinking thing together.

But even though the draw was immoveable, her skirt was another story. All her tugging caused the small tear to become a slightly bigger tear and that became an even bigger tear.

Now, anyone else might have noticed the progressing problem here; anyone who has ever played tug-of-war with a large dog would have realized what was about to happen. But not our little Mai, no, she gave it one last hefty tug. As she did, her skirt came free of the fragment and lost balance causing a big crash, a broken cup, and more than a few injuries.

Next thing she knew, Naru was in the door smirking at her.

"Get your skirt caught in the drawer again?" he questioned

"Yeah… It wasn't my fault, though!"

An eyebrow rose, "Oh? Why not?"

"It's not!" she looked at the tear. "And it was one of my favorites, too."

Sighing, he walked over to her, pulled her up and examined the damage. He opened the first aid kit Lin had dropped off and went to work. Because of the accident prone Mai, He had become quit skilled at playing nurse, not that he needed much practice in the first place.

"Really, how do you get into so many accidents?"

"It's not like I do it on purpose."

"That's the definition of the word 'accident', Mai."

"Well, I don't," She pouted.

"Really? I think you might. That way you get a hansom guy like be to patch you up."

"I do not!"

"Really?" he inched closer, "is that the truth?"

She began to blush which made Naru smirk and turned back to tending to Mai's battle scars.

In the other room they heard a customer walk in.

Mai's instinct was to go and welcome the customer but Naru stopped her saying Lin would take care of it.

Next thing they knew the kitchen door was being shoved open and there stood Madoka in all her glory, her long tanned skirt still swaying with the wind created by the door wining open.

"Koujo said you were in here, Mai."

"Madoka!" Mai, cheered trying to wiggle out of Naru's grasp to greet her friend with a hug.

"Mai, stay still or it'll hurt more," he said grasping tighter to her wrist causing her to cringe. "Hold still," he repeated.

"Ah, Naru's worried for you, Mai," Madoka cheered, ignoring the glares.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Mai, exaggerated.

"Since Naru came home from England, right?" She noticed the small cuts and dampened cloths on the small girl, "did you have another accident while making Naru's tea?" she joked

"Yea," Mai laughed, "I did. How was your trip?"

Madoka, after Naru had come back from England, also spent some time over there visiting Naru's parents, Luella and Martin. The purpose of her visit was to top secret she said; Lin probably knew. In fact, Mai was sure he did know, and he wasn't telling. That man is one good secret keeper.

The girls continued to joke and share stories as if the male-nurse wasn't there.

Suddenly Madoka became serious, "Naru, I have a case for you."

**And that's chapter two I have always respected Madoka. She's so strong and cheerful. She's one of the few who stand up to Naru and keep him in check. I think her and Lin are so perfect together 3 hahah, and now I'm fangirling, haha.  
Have any of you heard Xia's new single called Uncommitted? I love it; I'm addicted. Wow. Anyway thanks a bunch :) Much love–Elda Ahern**


	3. Chapter 3

File 1: Ghost of a Chance part 3

After Mai had changed into a less torn and soggy outfit, clothing Madoka and Ayako had hidden in a closet for cases like these, she went back to the kitchen to try again with the tea while Naru and Madoka went back in the lounging area to talk about the case. Mai was able to hear them through the open door.

"Madoka, if it's like last time, I'm not taking it."

Last time, Mai shuttered. She would be happy to never think of that case again.

"It's not like last time at all. A friend of a friend of a friend..."

Mai, imagined Naru giving a cold glare. If he was, it didn't seem to affect the recipient.

"has a little ghost problem, that's all."

"So bring them in. I'll interview them and decide if we will take the case."

Mai walked in with the freshly brewed tea and handed it out.

Madoka expressed her thanks and turned back to Naru, "Actually, I said you'd be there by Friday," she smiled.

"That's in two days!" Mai couldn't believe her ears. Surly Naru wouldn't take the case now!

Naru seemed to be having a staring contest with Madoka, but she didn't seem to take notice because she was cheerfully smiling.

"Mai." Naru did not sound happy, but when did he ever.

All the same, the owner of the name jumped, "Yes?" she cautiously answered.

"Call everyone and inform them of the case," He got up to go to his office taking his tea with him, probably to brood about losing. As if as an afterthought, he turned, "Don't forget to call your school and apologies for the last minute notice. And tea," and the door shut with a bang.

I just gave you some, Mai thought angrily, just 'cause you lost doesn't give you the right to act like a child.

Madoka giggled. Although Mai knew the relationship between the two was a rather unique one, she still found it amazing that Madoka was able to get Naru to do as she says so easily. And after all that, she even laughs when he walks away mad.

"Don't worry about you school, Mai, I already call that in for you."

"Really? Thanks. They didn't mind?"

"Not a bit," she smiled.

"They always give me a hard time," Mai complained as she reached for the phone.

Madoka giggled, "Well, I can be a very persuasive person."

…

Mai knocked on the door with her free hand what holding a cup of tea in the other. Without waiting for permission, she walked in and set the tea next to Naru on the desk. As he drank she explained to him.

"Bou-san won't be able to make it Friday because his band is having a show the night before and he won't be able to make it back before we leave and John is on a trip right now and will be returning after we've left. They said they'd find their way there as soon as they could. Also Masako has filming."

None of the news seemed to take Naru by surprise at all.

"Looks like we'll have to find a way to get all five of up in the van with the equipment," he thought aloud, sipping at the tea.

"Ayako can drive herself and take some people with there, right?"

"Yes, but it's best to have the least number of cars possible so we don't get in the way more than we already will."

So he does think about that stuff, Mai thought.

"We'll send Matsuzaki and Yasuhara with Madoka."

Scratch that, spoke too soon.

"Madoka would already be at the house, isn't making her come here kind of inefficient for her?"

"Yes."

Oh, boy, Naru's getting his revenge, poor Madoka, Mai thought.

"Mai."

"Yes?"

Naru held out his empty cup, "Tea."

…

That Friday morning was not exactly what they called 'good'. Naru seemed to be annoyed over something and Mai was sure her lateness couldn't have been the cause of it, nor could it have been her chatter boxness during the trip. He usually complained about that if it was annoying.

After an hour into the ride Mai hear a thunk as Naru's head hit the window. The noise had made her jump a bit.

She surveyed his sleeping figure for a bit as she picked up the file that had fallen to the floor of the car, thankful it hadn't gone under a seat or fallen apart. He looked so at peace when he slept, as if it was the only time he could let himself go. His dark hair fell over his closed eyes. He looked so normal when he slept.

Mai scanned the file. It was information about the case they were going to be working on. She smiled to herself, not even at the house yet and he's already working on it, she thought.

She closed the file as she heard another thunk. They were driving over a bumpy road and Naru's head was hitting the glass over and over again. Mai wondered why he wasn't waking up. Usually, he was a very light sleeper.

She looked at Lin in the rearview mirror for an explanation.

"I may have slipped some sleeping powder in his breakfast today," Lin stated. "Don't tell him you know but he's been sleeping less than usual."

"Is he alright?"

"Not if he keeps hitting his head like that."

Taking the rather obvious hint, Mai sought for a solution. She looked for a makeshift pillow but found none. Meanwhile, Naru's expression had darkened; she decided on the only thing she could think of.

She removed her jacket and folded it up to make a pillow which she then placed it under Naru's head separating him from the window.

With nothing to do and no one to annoy, she then waited and dozed off herself.

'_Hello, Mai.'_

'_Gene, hi. How are you?'_

'_I am well, thank you. A little worried about you and Naru, though.'_

'_Lin said he's not sleeping.'_

'_I thought he might not be.'_

'_Do you know why?'_

_Gene sought for the words, 'He's not happy with something.'_

'_Happy's not exactly a frequent emotion when it comes to your brother.'_

_Gene chuckled, 'You'd be surprised.'_

_She looked around and began taking in her suroundings. She seemed to be in a garden filled with a plethora of healthy plants, most of which were yellow flowers._

'_If you're here, Gene then…' she didn't even finish what she was saying before the answer was in front of her eyes. _

_A woman with wavy blond hair pinned back with a jeweled butterfly walked into the garden. She wore a flowing lightly colored dress. In her hands was a tin watering can. _

_As she watered the flowers a man with dark hair walked up behind her. He seemed to have startled her, but she seemed to know him and laughed at herself for being shocked. The hand that she lifted to her mouth as she laughed bore a gold ring that shined in the sunlight._

_Gene interrupted her observations, 'Mai, you need to wake up.'_

'_But, Gene,' she protested._

'_Now, Mai. Noll needs you now.'_

_As the dream faded she saw the man lean in to kiss the woman. _

And she was left with Gene's echoing words, 'Find Noll.'

**Dun dun dunnn, haha a cliffy? How could I? Well, it's not as easy as it seems, believe it or not I have a love/hate relationship with cliffies. Ugh, I feel so mean, mwahaha. Oh well, much love. –Elda Ahern**


	4. Chapter 4

File 1: Ghost of a Chance part 4

"Naru? Naru?"

Mai had woken up alone in the van. It looked like they hadn't unpacked yet. She needed to find Naru; Gene said he needed help!

She ran into the building.

"Naru?" she called one more time

No answer.

She continued running through the halls. She noticed the temper dropping. It seemed that the further she went into the building the colder it got.

At the end of the hall she saw a glass door. On the door was a stained-glass black-eyed Susan. It seemed to drawing her in. Before she had a chance to open the door she heard her name.

"Mai!" The air warmed up.

She looked, "Naru!" Relief flooded through her. She ran up to him grabbing his arms, "Gene said you needed me so I thought you were in trouble and it was so cold before."

"I'm fine, Mai, calm down."

"This must be Taniyama-san," a woman said, it was a voice Mai did not recognize.

"Yep, isn't she adorable?"

Mai peeked around Naru, "Madoka-san?"

"Mai, this is Matsushita Naoko."

"Hello, Matsushita-san."

"Naoko-san was just telling us about her experi-" She was cut off by a loud crash in another room.

They ran to the room containing the destructive noise. It wasn't far; in fact, it was the room the three had just come out of. The air was chilling, but it seemed to be on the rise. On the carpet was what was left of a shattered stained-glass window. The colors were similar to the one from the door Mai had seen.

"This has never happened before, it's usually just locked doors and things being moved in our way," Matsushita-san worriedly confessed.

"Matsushita-san, what was on this window before?" Mai questioned, bending down to investigate the glass, picking up a few piece for a closer look.

"It was a black-eyed Susan, why?"

"Just curious," Mai lied. No need to worry her if I'm not sure, she though. "Ow," she cringed and sucked on the offended finger.

"Mai, you idiot, don't pick up broken glass with your fingers," Naru scolded. He turned to Matsushita-san, "Where have you located our base?"

"Oh, this way."

As Matsushita-san led them through the halls, Mai began to fully take in her surroundings. Lin appeared to be nowhere in sight and the annoying comments from Yasu were also absent.

"Naru," Mai whispered, "Where're Lin, Yasu and Ayako?"

"Madoka sent Lin out on an errand as soon as we got here and I sent Yasuhara to get information. Matsuzaki san is out surveying the woods."

"Oh," they walked a bit in silence; soon Mai remembered something, "Oh, yeah!"

Naru eyed her.

"I had a dream while in the car. Not much happened, though." He silently listened as she recounted the dream in as much detail as she could.

Just as she finished explaining her dream to Naru, they came to what they were use as their base.

"The boy's room is on the left and the girls' on the right," Matsushita explained.

"Um, also, do you mind if I use the kitchen to make some tea every so often?" Mai questioned.

"Please, I don't mind in the least. Help yourself. The kitchen is just down that hallway," she pointed.

"Thank you," Mai made sure to remember. After all, forgetting was not an option. She figured by the end of the case she'd know the way like the back of her hand. If only Naru wasn't so addicted to tea, Mai thought, then again, if he wasn't, he might not need me.

"Naru, is there anything you need me to do?" In the background she could hear Lin and Yasu coming back into the house and making their way to base, or rather she could hear Yasu, she only knew Lin was there because Madoka was scolding him for misplacing something she had asked for, a rarity, to say the least.

"Go unload the equipment," Naru stated, looking over the files Yasu handed over.

Pouting, Mai headed back to the van, hoping she wouldn't get lost. After all that was her second job: moving equipment. Boy am I irreplaceable, she sarcastically thought to herself.

She almost dropped on of the cameras as she tripped on a loose stone causing her to loose balance. Trying to save the camera, she managed to twist herself, much like a cat, however, much unlike a cat, fell on her back.

Once she was on the hard rocky ground, she noticed how cold the air around her had become. It was still light out, so it couldn't have been because the sun went down. Dread began to sink in as Mai came to the only conclusion left.

She looked up and there in front of her was a poorly defined figure giving off a ghastly pale light.

The figure reached out with her hand, and Mai found herself struggling to stay awake. But in the end, she quickly passed out.

…

Naru took the augmented file from Yasu, hopeful that there was new information that could help him. Though Mai had told him of her dream, there was still no way to identify the people in the dream so in the end the information would remain useless until more was learned.

"Naru, is there anything you need me to do?" Mia had asked.

There are many things I need you to do, Naru thought, be safe, don't get lost, have more informative dreams, stop attracting danger to yourself. But the most important thing at the time was getting the equipment in the base, so that's what he told her to do.

As she left, pouting, he told Yasuhara to explain what he had found.

"There's not much info about the house nowadays," Yasu confessed, "there are a few rumors, though"

Naru an eyebrow in a way that said 'aren't you going to tell me them'

Yasu seemed to get the message, "it is said that couples associated with the building either get together or breaking up, the latter being the much more frequent." He had a mischievous glint in his eye, "but no worries, Naru, there's still a chance for you." He turned from the glaring boy, "My only concern is my poor Housho, what will happen between us? We are scheduled to be engaged soon."

"Yasuhara," Naru regained the researcher's attention once more, "you said 'nowadays'."

"Ah, yes, in the past this was the house of a feared psychic. But you see, she never did any harm to anyone, they just feared her and regarded her as a freak. It seems that she never married and died at a young age. She went by the name Susan."

**And that's chapter 4 yey :D hope you liked it. I have a request of you guys; if something seems confusing, please tell me. See, I know how this is supposed to go in my head and have it all planned out, but that doesn't mean I don't make mistakes. Also ever heard of the group called VIXX? I'm not sure how I feel about them yet.. they sometimes remind me of SHINee and B2ST…. my heart still lies with DB5K …BUT enough of this, thanks for reading , much love! –Elda Ahern**


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